Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Towers Watson Completes Acquisition of EMB

Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ:TW), a leading global professional services company, has completed the acquisition of EMB, a non-life consulting and software company, having satisfied customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. The transaction, which was announced on November 9, 2010, will result in the formation of the largest non-life actuarial consultancy in Europe and one of the largest in the world. EMB will now become part of Towers Watson’s global Risk Consulting and Software business through the transfer of staff, physical assets, software and intellectual property. As part of the acquisition EMB partners will also become Towers Watson employees, with several filling management roles.

Patricia L. Guinn, global leader of Towers Watson’s Risk and Financial Services segment, said: “We are delighted to be able to combine EMB with our risk consulting and software services to offer a much broader range of non-life consulting, software and risk transfer solutions to clients. This will help them address business performance, pricing and distribution, reserving, capital management and enterprise risk management.”

Rory O’Brien, formerly managing partner of EMB, said: “Our clients will find the same advantages plus the broader and deeper resources of a global consulting firm as well as access to risk transfer and other solutions. Linking up with Towers Watson in this way will provide clients with the support and the backing that makes it possible to develop software and consulting solutions at an accelerated pace, while preserving continuity of services.”

The acquisition is expected to be slightly dilutive to Towers Watson's adjusted diluted earnings per share in fiscal 2011 but does not change the company’s financial expectations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011.

Towers Watson advises more than three-quarters of the world's top insurers and is the fourth-largest reinsurance broker. Its software portfolio includes RiskAgility, MoSes, Simulum and Pretium and has over 400 software clients.

EMB was founded in 1993 in the U.K. as the first actuarial consultancy dedicated to non-life insurance and the development of high-performance actuarial software and advised 28 of the top 30 non-life insurance companies in the world. At the time of the acquisition, it had over 300 employees and software products that include EMB Igloo, EMB Emblem, EMB ResQ, which are licensed to 4,000 users in 53 countries.

About Towers Watson

Towers Watson (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW) is a leading global professional services company that helps organisations improve performance through effective people, risk and financial management. The company offers solutions in the areas of employee benefits, talent management, rewards, and risk and capital management. Towers Watson has 14,000 associates around the world and is located on the web at www.towerswatson.com.